U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is highlighting female empowerment on International Women's Day in Addis Ababa Thursday - the second of his six-day tour of Africa.

Joining (Moussa Faki) the chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission for a media briefing, Tillerson also spoke about initiatives aimed at boosting trade with Africa.

Tillerson said: "On trade, we also support the African Union's economic regional integration efforts to lower intra-trade barriers on the continent, boost more intra-regional trade - which we know has been a central goal of the negotiations around the constant Continental Free Trade Agreement, which we are quite supportive of. We look forward to engaging further with the African Union once that agreement is in place on how this will also promote greater participation of U.S. private sector business interests as well."

Tillerson's comments precede President Donald Trump's proposed new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, despite some of the members of his administration criticizing the idea as protectionist and anti-free trade.